2-698-999 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'St. Paul's after the Fall of the Spire, from a view by Hollar', (1897). The medieval cathedral of St Paul in the City of London, as it was after the fire of 1561 in which the wooden spire was destroyed. On 4 June 1561 the spire caught fire and crashed through the nave roof. The flames were hot enough to melt the bells and the lead on the roof. The spire was never replaced, and the entire building was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. From Old and New London, Volume I, by Walter Thornbury. [Cassell and Company, Limited, London, Paris & Melbourne, 1897]